A New Pair of Shoes
by sharkies
Summary: [Sort of JohnKitty] Kitty went to the mall to buy shoes. She never knew that going to the mall could change someone's life so drastically. PostX3. Rated for language


**A New Pair of Shoes**

**Pairing **– John/Kitty sort of…

**A/N** – I did this for a challenge on LiveJournal. Comments welcome, criticism appreciated. It's a one-shot. Sorry in advance for any typos.

**Rating **- PG-13 - For Language. The F-word will appear once or twice, along with some other four letter words. Just a warning...

**Disclaimer **– I don't own Frappuccinos, John, Kitty, Jubilee, any other X-Men, or Hot Topic. Don't sue me.

--

I'm sitting on a bench with a nice frappuccino in hand. I'm in a mall. Great. I _love_ the mall. I'm waiting for my friends to come out of the first store they saw. The only store I really did not want to go into at the moment.

I wonder how I ended up here. I was in the middle of designing a web page and relaxing until…

--

_Flashback_

_I finally found the mistake that had been screwing up my website._

"_Damn, all this time and all I did was leave out one letter…" _

_I sigh and look up from my laptop. I'm sitting cross-legged outside the mansion at the moment, under a large, shady tree. I see a bunch of young mutants playing mutant basketball – something you could only find at the X-Mansion. Basketball had never been my forte, though. I wasn't exactly tall as a kid, neither am I now._

_I smile at them, so carefree; and to think, only a few weeks ago we were all weeping for our losses at Alcatraz._

_My heart slightly drops at the thought of my mentors who had passed. I still grieved over them._

_I look back at my laptop._

"_I guess I can take a break," I say to myself._

_I save my document, put my laptop aside, stretch out my legs, and close my eyes. I think to myself, _Finally some peace and quiet…

_Only to be interrupted by the maybe too cheerful voice of a friend named Jubilee, "Yo Kitty! I've been looking for you! We need to get the mall _now_!"_

Right when I close my eyes…just my luck. _ I open my eyes, and look over at my friend. She had on a bright yellow jacket, a pink shirt, pink sunglasses, jeans that were as low jeans could go, and some nice yellow shoes. She had style unlike any other…any other Asian at least. _(A/N: Sorry, I had to put that in, I'm an Asian myself :-P)

_Sure beats my white shirt with a purple dragon, denim, which the girl had bought me last winter, and some sandals which were quite old and worn._

_I spoke, "Do I have to?" She gives me a face and retorts, "Of course! I got some extra money for my promotion to being an X-Man!"_

_I smiled. Of course, that girl was so excited when Storm told her the news. I begin to think of the day until she speaks again._

"_Come on! We need to get out!" She's slightly irritated. I can tell by the tone of her voice._

_I sigh, "Is anyone else coming?" _

"_Rogue, she needs a new wardrobe now…" She pauses, no doubt thinking of Rogue – no, Marie now._

"_That's it? 'Cause I really, really, don't feel like driving. We go with Ro-Marie, all the time."_

"_No, the new girls might come too…what are their names? Sage and Danielle, yeah, that's it."_

_Oh, well I guess I should go with them and meet the new girls, but just for fun I decide to play around with Jubilee. "You know, that sounds like a lot of fun, but-"_

"_No buts girl, you're coming with us!" Jubilee is commanding me now. "They are waiting for us!" She pauses, and speaks again, "You never know, you might see a cute guy!" She pauses again, "And girl, you need a new pair of shoes."_

_I look at the little black flats on my feet. I guess they are getting too small. I sigh, and stand up, brushing off the grass that had stuck to my jeans._

"_Ok, lemme just get my jacket ok?"_

Great. I love the mall, _I think as I enter my room and grab my jacket._

_By the time I'm downstairs at my car, I realize that they're already in my car. _How the hell did they get into my car?_ But there's only two girls. Both smiling tricky smiles at me, as if there's some being played on me. Knowing them, there is._

"_Where are the new girls?"_

"_They have Danger Room practice with Wolvie right now, I was just lying. I knew you'd agree to come if I said they were coming."_

Damn. Jubilee is good.

_I turn on my car and drive off, hoping that today wouldn't be a waste of time._

I guess I should buy some shoes.

--

I'm brought back to reality when I sense a presence that has appeared in front of me. I think it's a guy, but I'm not sure, but whoever it is, is making me uncomfortable. He-she-it is looking at me. I can feel it. _This is my bench. Leave me alone with my drink._ I think; I wish I could say it, but I should be polite. I try to ignore the person, and continue to drink my mocha Frappuchino. After a while, I decide it's useless and look up at the person standing in front of me.

I gasp. At first I think I was just dreaming. I blink. He's still there. _Guess not._

"What the hell are you doing here?" He speaks.

I'm still shocked. I stand up. _Why is he talking to me? Can't he just leave me alone?_

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"Hey, I asked you first."

"Look, I thought you were dead."

"Really? You were thinking about me?" I glare at him. He smirks. "I'm not that easy to kill, Kitten."

I think he used that nickname to provoke me. _I can play that game too, you know._

"Don't call me that, _John_." I spit his name. His true name. I know he hates that now that he's _Pyro_. The change of his face signifies that I'm right. "Really, John, what are you doing?"

His face is now that unreadable façade that he always wore when I saw him with Magneto. Anger, I guess, was the main emotion I saw.

He's quiet now, so I continue.

"What are you doing now that your mentor is _cured_? Now that he's a mere _human_?"

"Shut up." He's not looking at me anymore. _I wonder what his problem is._

"John-"

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?" I scoff, "It's your real fricken name."

"Not anymore." Is that, dare I say, sadness that I hear in his voice? I think it was, or maybe it's just anger. I can't tell. But whatever it is, I know that there's something wrong. There is an inner dilemma that I need to deal with at the moment. _I feel bad for him. But no, I hate him. He's bad, evil maybe. But I'm good. I should do the right thing. Show him what being an X-Man is about._

I guess that's the best way to do it.

"Ok Pyro, tell me what's up." I finally have the chance to get a good look at his face. Bruises, perhaps from Alcatraz. I look at his tattered clothes, I could be mistaken, but those are exactly the same clothes that he was wearing at Alcatraz. _How the hell did he get all the way to New York? _

He looks at me incredulously. "Why the fuck should I tell you? Or even better, why the fuck do you want to know?"

He's getting me irritated. "Because I _care_, Pyro! That's what X-Men do!"

He's just staring at me now, staring like I should go over and check myself into the mental hospital. Ok, so maybe it's more like, glaring at me. He looks down at his feet, and lowers his voice. "So what?" He lifts his head. "I can handle myself."

I look at his tattered clothes. _Of course you can._ "Like hell you can! Look at your clothes! I can help you. Just give me the chance."

"Why do you want to help me! I have nothing to offer you! Stop thinking that just because you're an X-Man, everyone wants you freakin help!"

"I'm an X-Man Pyro because I do the right thing, and right now, I know that you need help." I say with finality. "Because it's the right thing to do."

For a second there, the anger I had seen in his face faded like a fire that fizzles out. He's actually thinking about it now. But just as quickly then that façade is back on his face, hiding what he's really feeling. I know he wants help; I know he needs help. And right now, he's pissing me off.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." He says to me, once again glaring daggers at me. But I know it's not true. I step up towards him, and look right into his eyes, his soul, with confidence he never knew I had. _Yes, I can glare too._

"Look here, Pyro, I know more about you than you know. I know that you think you're tough. I know that you think you're a bad guy. But I know that it's all a mask! It's covering up your hurt. Whatever the hell happened in your childhood has scarred you. I know that. I also know that you've been hurt many times." His lighter is out now. He's glaring again. I guess I went a bit too far.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my childhood!" John is very angry. "And I don't need your fucking help! What, will you take me to your mansion, thinking that you can help me see the light? Well you know what Kitten? I don't _want_ to be an X-Man! I've seen that side of the scope and it's not for me, I'm not _fit _to be one!"

"I have no intentions of _converting_ you, Pyro. I just want to _help_ you." I decide to lower my voice a bit. "I just want to get you some food. Maybe a little talk." At the moment, really, I'm just hoping for Rogue and Jubes to get out of the store. God, I don't want to do this right now. I want to do something else, go shoe shopping, something other than arguing with this guy. Especially since I think there's some people passing by us and staring. But I ignore them.

Right now, I think Johnny boy here is starting to understand my intentions. He's putting his lighter back in his pocket. _That's a good sign_.

"John, I can help. You just have to let me."

I look back at his face. The kid looks like he's going to break down. So much so, that he didn't even notice I called him John.

It's only right to help him.

He turns away. He obviously doesn't want me to see him this weak. _Well, that's dumb_.

"John."

"Don't call me that." This time he says it with less anger.

"Let me get you some lunch." I look at his clothes. "Maybe a new shirt or two if there's a sale."

He looks at his shirt.

He smiles hesitantly at me. I know that's as much of a thanks that he will give me.

"I'm going to go in, and tell my friends that I won't shop with them for the rest of the day, ok?" I start walking. "Sit down on that bench, _don't move._" I say as commanding as I can, which isn't very commanding, _I wonder how Storm does it_. He looks up at the name of the store, smirks and surprisingly, he sits down.

--  
In the store

I look around the store, trying to ignore the clothes on the clothing racks. _No Kitty, you don't want to buy any. You're a good girl._

Finally I spot them.

"Hey Jubes, I'm leaving you two alone."

"Why?" She pauses. "Oh! Did you meet a cute guy?" Jubilee questions.

I think about it. I shouldn't let the other two know about John. He wouldn't want me telling them. _But I suck at lying. Damn, and Jubilee can always tell when I'm lying. Well, I'll give it a try._

"You can say that." Surprisingly, that came out easier than I thought it would. _I hope she believes it. _By the looks on her face, I think she actually did.

Rogue speaks, "Oh, what's his name?"

_I should have just ditched them._ _I wouldn't need to do this._

"His name is…Josh." I cringe as I say the name.

"I guess you haven't asked him his name yet." Rogue smiles. "Don't worry sugah, I bet you can get any guy in this mall."

At the moment, I feel really awkward, but I smile shyly and nod my head; I dare not open my mouth. Jubilee smiles. "Look, It's ok for a girl to approach a guy these days. You gotta be aggressive." Then she winks.

"Thanks for the…advice…guys. Call me when you want to leave." _Gotta get away! _I turn and start walking as fast I can, while trying not to look rushed. That's a complicated thing to do.

--

I'm safely outside the store. John looks at me.

"Victoria's Secret, eh?" He asks, "Never thought you shopped there."

I smirk. _Yeah, you wish._ "I don't, but I bet you do. We all know what you did at night…" The sarcasm in my voice was obvious.

He's not getting it. "You know what? Never mind."

John stares at me funny, "Right…"

"So, let's get to the food court." He gets up and we start walking.

--

He's scarfing down the food I bought him. I wonder when the last time he ate was. So I ask.

"What?" He answers as soon as he swallows. "Well, I stole as much as I could, sometimes if I got some money I'd buy myself some chicken nuggets at some fast food place."

"That's how you've been surviving? On chicken nuggets?"

I think I've hurt him with that question. He visibly flinched. I can tell that it brings bad memories. He's stopped stuffing the food down his throat.

"Yeah."

We fall into yet another uncomfortable silences. He's eating again, slower this time. Now, I guess John isn't very talkative, and since I'm not either, there's been a lot of awkward silences.

"So, what's your favorite color?" He asks.

"That's random."

He shrugs, "I don't like uncomfortable silences."

I stare at him confused and then answer, "The color blue. What's yours?"

"Red."

"I assumed."

Another awkward silence.

"If you don't mind me asking, Pyro, how the hell did you get to New York from San Francisco?"

"Well, I hitch-hiked and walked to one of Magneto's secret bases, found a bag, stuffed it with as much food as possible, found as much money as I could, took one of his cars and started driving as far away from the city as possible. But then, about halfway across the country, I realized that I couldn't afford gas, so I ended up selling it. I just went up to someone's doorstep and asked if they wanted it.

"Anyways, I took the money I got from that and bought a cheap car with more mileage, then set off again. Once again I ran into the gas problem, and decided to hitch-hike again.

"I recently ended up in New York, and took the metro to get as close as possible to familiar area."

I smile, he's warming up to me. That's good. Maybe he won't be as afraid to show his weakness.

I still had questions to ask him like, _why did you come up to me, when all you wanted to do was fight? And, why did you end up coming so close to Xavier's? _(A/N: Let's say that the mall is basically the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters hangout)_ It's not exactly familiar territory to you anymore._ But decided that they could wait. I don't want him to get all bitchy on me again.

We continue the small talk, avoiding the awkward lulls, and awkward questions, as much as possible. I smile at him. I'm glad he agreed to talk. We've both forgotten that we don't really like each other.

But I can't help to stare. _He's actually kind of cute._ I frown. _Ew._ Where did that thought come from? I just shrug it away, look at his face and realize he asked me a question.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?"

And we continue our conversation.

--

After eating I decided to buy him a few cheap shirts, there was a sale going on at Hot Topic. In the time since lunch, he'd gotten a lot more comfortable with talking to me. I think I've helped him a lot. I feel good about it.

At the moment we're just sitting on a bench talking. We've been sitting here for a while.

My phone starts vibrating, and I hear my familiar ring tone. I flip open my phone and see that it's Jubilee calling. I also look at the time. _Wow, I've been with John for three hours!_

"Hey Jubilee. You ready?"

"Yeah, we're pretty much ready." She answers. "But if you want to stay with your new boyfriend, then it's fine with us. We can watch a movie."

"Oh, no it's ok, I'll go down to the car then, meet me there."

"Why, is he a jerk or something?"

I look at John and smirk.

"Not really."

"Is there no chemistry or something?"

"No, I don't feel any chemistry."

I can hear Jubilee smirk, "I know you're lying."

I frown in confusion. _What? I'm telling the truth!_

"You know what Jubes? Just meet me at the car."

"K, see ya in a bit."

I hang up. And look at John. I feel horrible leaving him here.

I decide to give him the rest of the money from my wallet, which is around $50.

"Spend it wisely, Pyro."

He smiles, not hesitantly this time, and it's not a smirk, it's a smile. But it's not at me, it's at the money. He looks up at me.

"Thanks." He says it so quietly I barely hear him. But I still hear him. Wow, he's changed so much over the past few hours.

I think that we should do this again, so I call him and ask the question. "Hey, same place same time next Saturday, ok?"

He nods.

I turn and start running towards my car.

I never realized that helping someone could make me so happy, so accomplished.

I am smiling as I walk to my car.

I hope that giving him all my money was a good idea.

No, I know that giving him all my money was a good idea, but still not the best thing I did for him today. Today I gave him someone to talk to. Maybe when he feels like it, he will start talking about important stuff, like his past. That can wait.

He trusts me now. And for some unexplainable reason, that makes me really happy.

I know that I will never hurt him, intentionally at least, unlike any other people who have hurt him before.

I care too much for him. And from what he told me today, I know that I will always respect and care for him.

Jubilee and Rogue - dang it, Marie, are waving to me at the car. I nod at them.

I look down at my shoes.

I never bought another pair.

_Well, there's always next week._

And I go join my two friends.

--

Phew! 8 whole pages, except for the last four lines, which or on the ninth.

Well? What do you think? My first shot at FanFiction. :D

Hope you liked it, hope you review.


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